Las Vegas man charged with murder 20 years after wife’s Angels Landing death

Angels Landing in Zion National Park. Photo: Amy Bergeson.

ST. GEORGE, Utah — A Las Vegas man and former youth pastor has been charged with murder nearly two decades after his wife died in a fall at Zion National Park, the Washington County Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

David Vander Meer, 49, faces charges of murder with a domestic violence enhancement and insurance fraud related to the Aug. 22, 2006, death of his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, who was 29 at the time of her death. She fell from Angel’s Landing during what her husband described as a sunrise hike to celebrate their anniversary.

U.S. marshals arrested David Vander Meer on June 22 on a warrant signed by 5th District Court Judge Jay Winward. He is being held in the Clark County Detention Center in Nevada and has a hearing scheduled for Thursday, June 25.

The Washington County Attorney’s Office said Lt. Investigator Jessica Bate led the reinvestigation of the case. Authorities reminded that David Vander Meer is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

What David Vander Meer told investigators

According to the affidavit, the couple hiked Angel’s Landing before dawn, wearing headlamps that they removed as daylight began. David Vander Meer said he was setting up a camera to photograph Bernadette against the sunrise near the trail’s edge when he stepped away to move their backpacks. When he turned back, he said, she was gone. He said he heard her scream but did not hear her fall.

David Vander Meer also told investigators the couple had recently raised their life insurance policies from $150,000 to $600,000 each. At the time, authorities found the circumstances suspicious, but limited evidence led investigators to rule the death an accident.

Tips reopened the case

The case remained closed until 2022, when a former member of David Vander Meer’s youth group contacted law enforcement. That person told investigators that David Vander Meer had used his position to groom minors and had been in a sexual relationship with her beginning when she was 16 years old at the time of Bernadette’s death.

The woman said she ended the relationship with David Vander Meer the night before the couple left for their anniversary trip. She also told investigators the account he gave the youth group about what happened on the trail differed from the account he gave police.

A Washington County Sheriff’s Office supplement was filed at the time calling for further investigation, but the case was not reopened.

Then, in October 2025, the Washington County Attorney’s Office received a second tip, this one from the senior pastor at the church where David Vander Meer had worked. That pastor said he believed David Vander Meer had pushed his wife and that the death was not an accident.

A pattern of allegations

Bate was assigned to the case and began interviewing additional former youth group members. Several described inappropriate conduct. The woman who had originally come forward in 2022 told Bate that David Vander Meer had sexually abused her beginning when she was 16, including at a family cabin in Brian Head, Utah. She described a pattern of abuse and said David Vander Meer told her the only way they could have a future together was if Bernadette were not alive.

After Bernadette’s death, the woman said the two resumed their relationship and later married. They divorced in 2014. She said she believes David Vander Meer was unfaithful to her throughout the marriage.

According to the affidavit, David Vander Meer was fired from the church in 2008 after allegedly supplying alcohol to minors and hosting gambling activities for teenagers at his home.

Bernadette Vander Meer’s mother provided investigators with handwritten letters from her daughter describing marital unhappiness and a sense that her husband did not show her affection or attention in public.

Analysis of sunrise data showed that it would still have been dark at 6:20 a.m., when Bernadette fell. A topographic review of recorded Angel’s Landing incidents found that the location of the fall is not a common site for accidents, and that other incidents at that same spot were either suspicious or ruled suicides.

Anyone with information relevant to the case is asked to call the Washington County Attorney’s Office at 435-301-7100.

Source: ABC4 Utah